Report: Todd Haley Told Cardinals It Would Cost A Lot For Him To Leave The Steelers

There is still no word as to who the Arizona Cardinals will decide on to be their next head coach, but it is looking more and more likely that it won\’t be Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who reportedly interviewed with his former employer last week.

Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post Gazettereports on Monday, that according to his sources, Haley gave Cardinals team president Michael Bidwill a very high asking price as far as salary goes when the two met last week. Dulac speculates that Haley did this because he is currently happy with his job with the Steelers and doesn’t want to leave unless an offer is too good to pass up.

Haley reportedly built a new house in Pittsburgh upon his arrival back in town last season, and said at that time that he intended to stay with the Steelers as long as they would have him.

The Cardinals requested permission to talk to Haley a few weeks ago and the Steelers granted it to them. Last week Haley\’s agent denied that his client was interviewing with the Cardinals but team president Art Rooney II confirmed during his end of the season talk with the media last week that Haley was indeed interviewing for the Cardinals opening.

So what was in it for Haley if he deep down he knew that his asking price was too high? First, it never hurts to ask, and second, it keeps his name circulating as a potential candidate moving forward. Should Haley indeed return to Pittsburgh for a second season, which Rooney endorses happening, and greatly improve things, then he will likely be highly sought after for any head coach openings after the 2013 season.

There is a reason that Haley has only been sought after by one team following an 8-8 inaugural season with the Steelers. Perhaps he did Bidwell a favor by at least sitting down and listening to him or perhaps Bidwell did Haley a favor by keeping his name in the news.

Any surprises here? Not really. I would expect the Cardinals to name their new head coach pretty soon and I expect that it won\’t be Haley.

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I assume Haley does like working with Big Ben and I hope he plans on opening up the offense a little more this year. I also hope he is a little bit more creative and I like to see Ben roll out of the pocket a little more.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ESU2VFZHEUTQEPJ7AWSN7ODBPQ Emac2

If there’s a reason you should tell us the reason instead of telling us that that a reason exists.

Unless of course there isn’t really a reason.

Garrett Hunt

He is using Haley only being sought after by one team as a signal for the mediocre offensive season

disqus_wdLdx4W76r

My only issue with Haley is his Lets run the ball up the middle every time with Slow RBs..everybody knows what’s comming! That may work if our O-Line could get any kind of push up-field.OK that’s not my only issue..I also hate his route combos for the WRs,his lack of imagination, and his inability to draw up pass plays that create trouble for the other teams. Same players in the same formations doin the same thing. My son says he gets his Playbook. off the John Madden game..We have the talent its just not being used the right way. Its a “copy-cat” league maybe he should be taken notes of other teams offenses personnel and plays.

http://www.facebook.com/ken.stovall.3 Ken Stovall

You should proofread your post before publishing. It is Bidwill not Bidwell.

steeltown

I hope he comes back another year. If history is any indicator then his 2nd year will be far better than the first, which is completely understandable. Chiefs won their division the 2nd year he was HC there and the Cards went to the SuperBowl in his 2nd year as OC… also, I would hate to change things after only one year in the new system

Pete

If the Steelers continued the success of the first 9 games, everyone would be signing the praises of Haley. Few are praised when you finish 8-8. But I’m with Rooney on this. They were obviously doing something right during the 1st 9 games when it was projected Roethlisberger was having his best season ever. Sacks down, INTs down, TDs up.

I think Haley is going to be successful in Pittsburgh once the O line is straightened out and the receivers play up to their potential. I think Wallace was a distraction and hopefully he’ll be gone. The 49ers have 3 1st round picks on their O line and they are healthy and dominant. The Steelers have 3 1st rounders too (Adams is really a 1st round pick). Given time the Steelers O line should also dominate if they can stay healthy.

Alan Felicia

Can you blame Haley? 3 Head Coaches since 1969. For Asst Coaches, as long as they’re solid, they will have a job for life – Dick Hoak was the RB Coach from 1972 until retiring in 2007 and Def Line Coach John Mitchell has been with Pitt since 1994. And look at the history of former asst Coaches who moved on to bigger jobs like Tony Dungy (DB Coach/DC, 1981-1988), John Fox (DB Coach, 1989-1991 under Noll), Marvin Lewis (LB Coach, 1992-1995 under Cowher), Chan Gailey (WR Coach/OC, 1994-1997), Mike Mularkey (TE Coach/OC, 1996-2003), Ken Whisenhunt (TE Coach/OC, 2001-2006) to name a few. Plus, he’s back living in his hometown (just build a new house) and working for a team he rooted for growing up.

Mike Carroll

I agree with a lot of your points and hope Haley does stay. And while I am hopeful the team will at least start all of the young OL draft picks this upcoming season, I am not convinced yet they will necessarily succeed. But, it’s certainly worth finding out.

The hiring of a new OL coach will be critical in the development of the new guys, and I would think Haley will have some input on the hiring of a coach to match the new offensive philosophy of the team. I would think the drafting of DeCastro and Adams were part of larger plan begun with the hiring of Haley. And I wouldn’t doubt the departure of Kugler is actually welcomed as an opportunity to get someone who better matches what they want to do now.

As for the receivers, I think the team realized Wallace would probably not match the new offensive scheme, but played him out to see if he could. Now, I would think and hope the team will draft a large wide receiver fairly high in the draft that again matches the new offensive plan better.

There’s a lot of reasons to hope year two under Haley should be better.

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